Fight Back ‘09: Channel gets a makeover

Makeovers was the theme of the week with channel players looking to readjust and reassert themselves with the aid of fresh new directions and a little bit of bling.

Kicking off proceedings was US-based computer accessories vendor, Targus, which stepped out in style with a fresh look, revised company direction and whole new family of products.

Product manager, Aaron Shooter, said the re-brand means the company will start from scratch, making products that appeal to a broader market.

“Rather than continue to revamp existing products, we decided to go right back to ground level and build products that more people could use,” he said. The changes include a new logo and 13 new products that fit into different categories including mice, USB hubs, keypads, presenters and cooling solutions aimed at a wider consumer and corporate audience. The company told ARN it had no immediate plans to break into the lucrative gaming market. “I don’t imagine gamers will be our market group,” Shooter said. “Gaming is a niche market we probably won’t play in.”

Also doing a spot of spring remodelling was the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It decided to purchase up to 20 blade servers and two chassis for its Melbourne and Canberra datacenters as part of larger Citrix XenServer 5.5 and XenDesktop 3 farm rollout plan had vendors smiling.

The ACCC said the blade servers and associated periphery will be used to support the Citrix rollout along with a range of undisclosed infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, Blade Network Technology made plans to help out the its channel partners. The Ethernet vendor said money from its latest funding boost will be used to increase its local channel support by as much as three times. Positioned as a direct competitor to Cisco and holding strategic partnerships with HP, IBM and NEC, the $230 million company just closed a strategic Series B funding round led by NEC, along with Juniper Networks and a third, silent investor. Blade vice-president, Asia-Pacific, Peter Hall, said it was looking to invest the funds in recruiting local channel support staff.

“We expect to triple the size of the organisation in the Asia-Pacific region in the next year with the help of this funding,” he said. “We’re already building good prospects and customers.”

That’s it for this week but stay tuned for more hub caps, spoilers and racing-stripes as ARN's Fight Back ’09 brings you the good news.

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